Not in my Name
by Inks Inc
Summary: Boundaries are blurred when Gibbs goes out of town, leaving Ducky to keep a distant eye on his team. WARNING: Spanking *Two-Shot* (Completed)
1. Chapter 1

Two heads were hanging in well deserved contrition as a blisteringly long lecture continued to screech around the sterile room. Neither reprobate had seen the usually chipper Ducky this angry in a very, very long time. Tony had long since given up trying to calm the agitated M.E. and had wisely submitted to the dry verbal tirade that he had to admit he deserved, and judging by Tim's silent acceptance, he couldn't deny the damning extent of their folly either. The two were standing to attention in front of Ducky's favourite autopsy table with the doctor pacing furiously up and down in front of them, gesticulating more and more wildly as time meandered on. Whatever relief either had felt at being caught out in breaking every rule in the book during the week Gibbs was out of the office was all but gone. However painful a scorched behind was, it was quickly paling in comparison to the pain of the seemingly never ending reprimand.

"You two gentleman surely know that Jethro may have left _you_ Anthony in charge, but he also asked me in no uncertain terms to keep an eye on things in his absence?" Both nodded mutely. That was standard procedure where Gibbs was concerned. Not that anyone ever minded, Ducky generally had a very avuncular supervisory approach. Until now. Until he had unfortunately walked in upon a no rules, no holds barred bout of fisticuffs between Gibbs' junior and senior agents. Rising tensions between the two had spilled over during a routine squabble about sandwich ownership and Abby's lab had played host to the disgraceful departing from the standards Gibbs had drummed into his team. Separated with surprising strength by Ducky's hold on the scruff of their necks, they were mute with shock as they were hauled off to autopsy. Five minutes of enforced medical inspection and two nose bleed cessations later, and the lecture had begun.

And only continued to blossom.

Such was the longevity that neither Tony nor Tim had the opportunity to check their on-silent cell phones as they normally would, with the religious reverence that Ducky and his generation detested. So neither agent saw the missed calls from Gibbs, nor the voicemails that accumulated quickly. Both were too busy staring and looking away from Ducky in equal measure. It was only when he had nearly lectured himself hoarse that both heads snapped up in shock, mouths dropping agape in incredulity at the resolved pronouncement that hung in the air. Tony recovered first, but only just. "Sorry…Ducky, I'm not sure I heard you right?" He glanced at Tim and cleared his throat nervously. "What did you just say?" Drawing himself up to his full height, the doctor showed no signs of correcting his speech.

"You heard me just fine, Anthony," he bristled, "As no doubt did you, Timothy."

Tim couldn't help but baulk in that moment. "Ducky," he blurted out anxiously, "Not that we don't respect you and everything, because we do. But you can't…we don't….it's not…." He glanced hopelessly at Tony who looked just as helpless as he did. "Gibbs wouldn't like it," he finished and even though his voice wavered, he was confident in that moment. "Gibbs wouldn't like it at all. Can't we just wait for him to come back?" Beside him, Tony gave a supporting nod which only served to sour Ducky even further.

"Do not dare to presume to tell me what Jethro would and would not like Timothy, he and I were friends while you two prodigies were still at your mothers' breasts. Now, although I am partial to the odd bout of repetition, I will not repeat myself on this matter. Do as I have bid you please and do it now. Let us get this unpleasantness over and done with as quickly as possible." He levelled a disappointed glare at the pair of them and they shuffled on the spot. "You know full well it is nothing that Jethro would not do were he here. Now, if you please, turn and bend over the table. The both of you." Tony and Tim merely stared at each other in horror, standing motionless. Truthfully, Ducky had threatened them both with a "clip round the ear" more times than they could remember but this was something entirely new and it was horrifying clear that Ducky was entirely serious. Both boys' were suddenly acutely aware that the electronic doors were ajar and stationary. Anyone could just walk in or by and see their proposed fate.

They both respected the hell out of Ducky. Saw him as a kindly uncle, or whatever. But this? This was something neither of them had seen coming. Sure, they had screwed up and broken one of Gibbs' most sacred rules and yes, they fully expected to cop the consequences for their faux pas. But from _him,_ not Ducky. Both their mouths ran dry as they watched the desperately sad looking doctor stride to the corner of the room, move a wheeled bookcase to the side, and extract a thin, wispy cane. The fact that the medic was British was never more apparent than in that moment and all of a sudden, Jimmy's reluctance to sit down for the entire duration of the recent team BBQ made a hell of a lot of sense. Tony went whiter than white and took an instinctively protective step in front of McGee. "Ducky…c'mon man, I get that Jimmy is Jimmy to you but we're….we're Gibbs'….don't do this, please man…."

Landing to a slow halt in front of them, cane in hand, Ducky merely shook his head sadly.

"Over the table gentlemen, now, if you please."

With despairing glances, Tony and Tim moved slowly and in tandem. Their respect for the doctor was far too real and far too ingrained to refuse. Both took a deep breath as they turned and draped themselves over the shiny surface, the cold metal pressing against both of their stomachs. Far from strangers to the unorthodox methods of Gibbs' correctional tools, both were feeling incredibly out of sorts. Tony bit his lip as he felt Ducky move to stand behind him first and place a soft hand upon the small of his back, the place where Gibbs' much gruffer hand usually rested. It felt so alien that he felt the beginnings of real panic begin to stir within him, so much so that he baulked against the gentle restraint. "Easy Anthony," Ducky murmured with sheer sadness dripping from his words, "Don't fight what you know deep down you have only yourself to blame for." The room was suddenly filled with the gentle tapping of the wiry wood against Tony's slack clad behind, before the air was sliced with the arch of the cane speeding upwards.

But the logical and corresponding downwards crack of the first lick never came.

Gibbs' eyes were filled with ice as he caught and held Ducky's wrist in a vice like grip, having materialised as he always did, from the shadows. His voice had never been more terrifying and all three occupants of the room, even though two were staring unseeingly into their own stainless steel reflections, knew he was dangerously enraged. Not even when Ducky visibly winced at the bone crushing hold did Gibbs relent, if anything, he held the wrist tighter still, his teeth grinding together with shocked ire.

"Just what in the _hell_ do you think you're doing to _my_ boys', Dr Mallard?"

….

A/N: Random Two-Shot

…


	2. Chapter 2

The room turned devastatingly chilly as Gibbs retained his vice like grip on Ducky's wrist. Without even looking at Tony and Tim, his eyes busily boring into the doctor's soul, he cleared his throat. "You two. Get up and go to the Conference Room. I'll be there soon. Go, now. No arguments." Standing immediately but shakily, both Tony and Tim felt identical pangs of fear for Ducky who, to his credit, looked remarkably unmoved by the crushing sensation in his wrist. But one look at Gibbs' twitching jaw and both knew to leave well enough alone. As soon as the doors swooshed closed behind them, Tony wisely disabling the stationary feature, Gibbs released his hold on his old friend. But he was far from consoled as he took a step closer to the medic, his eyes frosting over. "What the hell did I just walk in on? What in the hell do you think you were doing laying a hand on either of those two? Have you lost your goddamned mind?"

Ducky took a step back and for the first time, allowed the confusion that was suffocating him, show.

"Jethro, what in the devil is the matter with you? What do you think I was going to do with them?" He glanced down at the cane that was still in his hand, and back up at his steaming with rage friend. "I was merely going to correct them, not… _beat_ them. In the same manner that I have corrected Mr Palmer more times than I care to discuss. I cannot imagine what has caused you such rage. You instructed me to keep an eye on your team. And in the process of doing just that, I came upon the two of them in the middle of a _brawl._ I had to physically separate them. Surely you cannot be aghast and against the merits of punishment in such circumstances? I surely can rest assured that you're not going to allow those two to get off Scott free? If that was Mr Palmer, he wouldn't sit for a week. More in fact. So, again, what in the good Lord is the matter with you?" Gibbs took a deep breath, before reaching down for the cane in Ducky's hand. Grabbing it and hurling it into the corner of the room, where it landed with a tinny clatter, he growled in his throat.

"For a _start,_ I do not use a damned _cane_ on either of my boys', or on _any_ of mine."

Ducky blinked, the thought in truth, never having occurred to him. "Well," he murmured, "If it is the means that is the issue, I am afraid I must plead ignorance. I had no idea you were so opposed to such British methods, though of course, perhaps I should have. I sometimes forget that we are from opposite shores and-" He was cut off by perhaps one of the most snarling interruptions he had experienced in a long, long time. Gibbs' voice was if anything, dripping with more icy rage than it had been from the moment he walked into the room. His chest rose with the effort of his rage as he glared dangerously at his oldest friend.

"More to the damned point, I do not allow anyone and I mean _anyone_ to lay a hand on them. Period."

Ducky blinked.

"Except you?"

Eyes widening, Gibbs nodded with all the grace of a harpooned whale. "Well _yeah,_ Duck, except me. You know full well how I deal with them, hell, it's the only reason you started dealing with Jimmy in the same way. The problem isn't that they were about to have their asses roasted, the problem is _you're_ the one who was about to do it. That's not your place. That's not your call. Those boys' aren't under you, they're under me. Jimmy, he's under you, you can do whatever you want with him. But you will _never_ lay a hand on either of my boys'. You don't know a damned thing about how to handle them. You don't know that certain things freak Tony out, remind him…well, certain things freak him out. You don't know that punishing Tim alongside Tony is an absolute last resort, because he can't let himself break down in front of him. You could tan him all you like, but he won't learn anything from it, because he'll be so damned focussed on not losing face in front of Tony, who in turn, will just be eaten up with guilt that Tim is getting punished in the first place, and _he_ won't learn anything either."

Ducky, for the first time in a long time, felt his mouth fall open. But Gibbs wasn't finished.

"You had no business laying, or attempting to lay a hand on either of them and you sure as hell didn't have any business doing it without asking _me._ What the hell were you thinking? Did you honestly think I wouldn't deal with them when I got back? All you had to do was call me or leave a damned post-it on my desk, hell; you could have made them tell me. What you sure as hell shouldn't have done was to take matters into your own hands." He scrubbed a hand through his hair in agitation. "Ducky, you don't touch other peoples…you don't punish other peoples…" he reddened, "What I'm trying to say is, no matter how much those two needed a hiding, I will be the one to give it. Not you, not Joe the Janitor, not _anyone_ but me. You can lecture them until the cows come home, but that's it. that's where it ends." He sighed, the wounded look on Ducky's face suddenly registering with him. Softening his tone somewhat, he cast around for a more parallel explanation. "Ducky, how would you feel if you walked into my house, just to drop by, and I had your Jimmy bent over my workbench with a belt in my hand?"

The look that suddenly crossed over the Doctor's face was terrifying.

"I would ram it down your throat and lie blatantly on your autopsy report."

Gibbs snorted, relief that his friend finally _got it_ flooding through him. breathing deeply, he found himself calming down another jot. Because he'd arrived just in time, no real harm had been done. He could see where Ducky was coming from, but he had very nearly done the unforgivable. He knew more than anyone how far and how hard his boys' could push someone, but there was still a line. A line that could never be uncrossed. Ducky's breathing was hitched as he allowed understanding to course through him. He looked at the silently observing Gibbs and felt regret bubble. He had been an idiot. He should have done just as Jethro had suggested, have the boys tell them himself. Sighing, he extended a hand in apology.

"I'm sorry, old friend. I see now that it was not my place. I can only hope you know I would never deliberately set out to harm those boys?"

Gibbs nodded immediately as he shook the extended hand with a warmness that was in stark contrast to his earlier and towering anger. "Never a doubt in my mind, Duck." Releasing the grasp on his hand, Gibbs suddenly felt a little sheepish. Glancing down at the angry red mark on the medic's wrist, he blanched as he pointed to it. "About that…I shouldn't have….I should have thought-" He was waved away immediately. "No matter, no matter. One expects these things when one intercedes or interferes with the runnings of a mother hen's prodigies."

Gibbs spluttered in outraged indignation.

"I am _not_ a mother hen. I'm very masculine for a start. Alpha male, even." Ducky chuckled, a musical sound, smoothing over the temporary cracks in their well patched relationship. "Of course, of course," he lied graciously, a smile playing about his lips. "Would you care to join me for a drink, perhaps a spot of supper? I'm sure you haven't been taking care of yourself since you left Abby's watchful eye." Snorting, Gibbs nodded in admission. "You got me there; give me an hour or so? I'll meet you at the usual place; order me a steak if I'm running late."

Ducky nodded with a frown.

"You have somewhere else to be?"

Nodding grimly, Gibbs pointed to the upper layers of the NCIS offices.

"I said that you couldn't roast their butts, not that they weren't getting their butts roasted."

…

A/N: Fin

…


End file.
